Arkansas is an At-Will Employment State

When it comes to employment, Arkansas is an At-Will State. That means that technically an employer or employee can terminate a working relationship at any time with little or no explanation at all. This frees employers from the costly process of providing severance packages and allows employees to change jobs at any time without facing penalties.

However, that doesn’t mean that employers can terminate an employee for the wrong reasons. Under Arkansas law employment is protected under multiple circumstances. If a company violates Arkansas employment law the terminated employee can sue for compensation, reinstatement, or both.

Around 2:30 a.m. this morning a charter bus was found overturned in a ditch near Hot Springs.   The bus was carrying the Orange Mound youth all-star football team and chaperones.   The driver of the charter bus lost control of the bus, causing it to skid off the roadway, ultimately landing on its side in a ditch off I30 near the Hot Springs exit.   A third-grade child was killed in this bus accident, and at least 45 others were injured.   Children between the ages of 8-13 were treated at Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.   Two people were airlifted.   The charter bus was owned by a company out of Somerville, Tennessee called Scott Shuttle Service.

Deaths caused by a bus wreck are rare, but obviously no one is immune from the dangers of driving on the interstates and roadways.   The bus driver was interviewed by police, but it is unknown at this time why she lost control.

A few common causes of losing control of a bus include:

Suspected medical malpractice at an Arkansas doctor’s office led to at least seven misdiagnoses and potentially one fatality. That’s the latest from a wide-ranging investigation into Arkansas’s ailing Veteran’s Administration medical care system that has the whole nation watching.

In 2016 potential unsafe practices were reported to officials at the VA Medical Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas after it was revealed that one doctor there was “impaired” yet still treating patients. Investigators began to sift through that doctor’s medical files and immediately spotted significant errors and potentially lethal treatment mistakes. Continue reading ›

If you slip and fall in a grocery store or place of business because an employee failed to clean up a wet spill, it can derail your life. A common injury in such a case (such as a broken arm) could prevent you from working for days or weeks. The expense of the ER visit and follow up exams could be excessive. It can be too much for your financial situation. But did you know the establishment in which you fell may be required by Arkansas law to pay you for your expenses, your lost productivity, and your pain and suffering?

If you’ve been injured at a retail establishment, you may be entitled to financial compensation for your losses under Arkansas premises liability law. This law was designed to protect victims from injuries suffered because of another entity’s negligence, carelessness, or recklessness. Indeed, most businesses in Arkansas have what’s called general liability insurance which is designed to pay out in accident cases like this.

Arkansas General Liability Insurance

There is no unified statewide law dealing specifically with vicious dog attacks in Arkansas. This can leave victims struggling to get the compensation they deserve after they’ve been bitten and leave dog owners clueless about what their obligations are in regards to protecting family, friends, and the public at large.

One Child Bitten Every Day

Unfortunately, this is an issue that arises all-too-often in our state. According to the National Pit Bull Victims Association (NPBVA) there were six fatal dog attacks in Arkansas between 2010 and 2016—and those six deaths involved pit bulls. However, Dr. Michael Golinko, a plastic surgeon at Arkansas Children’s Hospital who specializes in pediatric dog bites, says that he personally is seeing at least one child injured per day by dog attacks. Most of these victims suffer from minor lacerations but some—most notably those attacked by pit bulls—are bitten multiple times in multiple locations on their body.    There are several breeds of vicious dogs, but without a doubt pit bulls remain high on that list.

Patients Suffering from Inadequate Care May Soon Have More Legal Options Available to Prove Malpractice

In a groundbreaking decision a Pulaski County circuit judge has ruled that a long-standing law that has protected doctors from giving damning testimony at their own malpractice trials in Arkansas is unconstitutional. The law currently gives doctors the right to refuse to answer questions about whether their standard of care and performance was adequate in cases where victims suffered serious—even life-threatening injuries. Indeed, plaintiffs in medical malpractice lawsuits in Arkansas may even be barred from asking such questions of their formerly trusted caregivers.

The monumental moment came about when in 2017 Judge Wendell Griffen (the man who essentially stopped executions in Arkansas) ordered that a plastic surgeon would indeed have to answer questions concerning the quality of care he demonstrated in regards the Arkansas malpractice lawsuit he was facing.

A man is lucky to be alive after a vicious dog attack in Arkansas’s Saline County. The victim, a 23-year-old male, was walking on Atkins Road in Avilla, Arkansas in September of 2017 when he was attacked by four Pit Bulls. The dogs had escaped from a neighbor’s yard and cornered the helpless victim against a fence. They then mauled the man for several minutes before an eyewitness was able to beat the dogs away with a metal pipe.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital suffering from multiple bite wounds—including several severe injuries to his legs and foot. While he is expected to live, he will be left with lifelong scarring and likely some reduced mobility due to the severity of the dog attack.

Police cited the animals’ owner for having “vicious dogs.” The Pit Bulls which attacked the man were seized by Arkansas sheriff’s deputies for mandatory 10-day quarantine.

A fatal duck boat accident in Branson, Missouri claims the lives of 17.  Thirty-one people were on board the Ride the Ducks duck boat in Branson, Missouri when the boat capsized and sank due to heavy winds.  There was a severe thunderstorm in the area at the time this duck boat was on the water, the winds were gusting at 60 miles an hour.   The news reports of this tragic accident show the lake had waves similar to waves you would see in the ocean, winds were so strong it created white capping.   A witness that videoed the tragic event on her phone said you could see the weather coming in.  The video showed two duck boats on the water at the time and they were both trying to get back to land, but the duck boat that ultimately sank appeared to be having trouble moving in the water because the waves were so large and the boat was continuously crashing against the waves.  With fierce storms in the forecast, why was this duck boat company operating duck boat tours that day?

Continue reading ›

Rottweilers Maim Beloved Family Pets

A vicious dog attack in Fort Smith, Arkansas earlier this month could have ended much worse. A couple had taken their dogs on a leisurely stroll in a park when two Rottweilers appeared out of nowhere and began to savagely maul the family pets. The terrified owners tried desperately to free their beloved animals from the vicious dogs for several minutes until Good Samaritans who happened to be driving past stopped to help. They were able to pull the Rottweilers back and tossed the two injured household pets into the car and safety.

Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt in the attack, though the sheer terror the victims experienced as they watched their helpless pets being bitten, shaken, and tossed around was enough to scar them for a long time to come.